Group claims, court budgeting and calculating settlements

25 April 2014

For firms specialising in the area of group claim litigation it can prove difficult finding software to support their particular needs. Liberate from Linetime has been designed specifically for use by group claims specialists. Linetime have now produced a module that pragmatically caters for the complex structures and rules and regulations associated with this type of work.

Linetime have supplied practice and case management systems to the legal profession for many years and these systems support a broad range of case types but this latest, unique, development differentiates them from other suppliers. The system is built with the capability to handle claims with hundreds (or even thousands) of claimants and the otherwise labour intensive administration required to process them. There is sophisticated and flexible support for court budgeting and other aspects of the Jackson reforms along with a settlement calculator
to assist with settlement negotiations.

The group claims system supports sub groups, casual groups and individual cases. It provides a highly visible and automated financial summary of recoverable and non-recoverable transactions. Once Group Litigation Orders have been defined by the courts the system provides strict governance and control of those groups. The system assists with the production of budget and cost submissions including Precedent H. There is also the option to render the entire case history into PDF format including a ledger summary and detailed time records against each historic item.

The Liberate business intelligence portal can monitor instances where matter budgets or tolerances have been exceeded. Lists of matters over budget sorted by value are displayed with the ability to drill down to investigate any stage or phase of a budget that has over run or looks
likely to do so.

To assist with the settlement negotiations the system provides an easy to use but sophisticated settlement calculator. The calculator shows the impact of any manipulation of any financial component, in real time, as negotiations take place – essential when dealing with offers and counter offers. The system caters for the inclusion of success fees and can apply a percentage uplift for the period a file was client funded. Counsel fees, cost draftsmen fees and previous solicitor’s costs can also be managed and considered as part of this process. A record of all negotiations and illustrations can be held in PDF form within the case history. If you would like more information about Linetime’s support for group claims or find out more about any of our software and services then please contact Kathryn Holmes on 0113 2500020 or email kathrynh@linetime.co.uk.

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